Karma (कर्म, karma) literally means "action" or "deed", from the root √kṛ, "to do". In Sanatan thought the term widens into a moral and metaphysical principle: every willed action leaves an imprint that ripens, sooner or later, into a corresponding result. This is sometimes summarised as karmaphala, the fruit of action.
Three Strands
Classical Vedanta usually distinguishes three kinds of . Sanchita (सञ्चित) is the stored mass of past actions whose results have not yet ripened. Prarabdha (प्रारब्ध) is the portion that has begun to bear fruit in this very life — the body, family, and circumstances one is born into. Kriyamana or agami (आगामि) is the new being generated by present acts.
Action and Imprint
Yoga and Buddhist texts speak of samskara (संस्कार) and vasana (वासना), the residues left in the mind by every act. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 2.12 says kleśa-mūlaḥ karmāśayo dṛṣṭādṛṣṭa-janma-vedanīyaḥ — "the karmic deposit, rooted in afflictions, is experienced in seen and unseen births". is therefore not a ledger kept by an external accountant but a deep grain laid down in consciousness itself.
and Rebirth
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5 declares yathākārī yathācārī tathā bhavati — "as one acts, as one conducts oneself, so one becomes". Action shapes character, character shapes destiny, and destiny carries on across the cycle of samsara. Liberation (moksha) is the exhausting and burning up of karma's binding power.
Niskama
The Bhagavad Gita's central teaching is niṣkāma karma — action performed without grasping at its fruit. Krishna tells Arjuna karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana (BG 2.47): "you have the right to action alone, never to its fruits". Such action, dedicated to the Divine and free of egoic motive, does not bind; it purifies.
and Free Will
does not imply fatalism. The Mahabharata's Shanti Parva insists that human effort (purushartha) cooperates with karmic conditions. Past sets the stage; present effort writes the next scene. This is why the tradition counsels both acceptance of what cannot be changed and earnest striving in what can.
Practical Wisdom
Lived as a daily discipline, asks one to notice the quality of intention behind action — whether it springs from greed, fear, and ego or from clarity, compassion, and dharma. Over time, the practitioner learns that what one becomes is the silent precipitate of countless small acts. To live well, then, is to act well, again and again.